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Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Rikers Island gets unofficial New York Public Library branch by Alison Fox

July 27, 2016

The library at the Rikers Island correction facility has
a wide range of books, including "The Hunger Games" series and "To
Kill a Mockingbird." (Credit: Craig Ruttle)

The (unofficial) 93rd branch of the New York Public Library is now
open for business — and you can’t take the subway to visit it.

That’s because the small-but-well-stocked collection is the first permanent public library on Rikers Island.

And
the collection, which is housed in the women’s Rose M. Singer Center
and sits below a poster of Beyoncé as Rosie the Riveter, is as varied as
the people who will be reading from it: “The Hunger Games” books share
space with “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Les Misérables,” and an extensive
James Patterson collection.

“It’s
amazing the city services that are available in the community; many of
those we want here on the island,” said Department of Correction
Commissioner Joseph Ponte. “This is a good step to introduce inmates to
the value of education, the value of reading.”

The
library holds 1,200 books — spanning everything from comics to sci-fi,
from Spanish language works to nonfiction classics — and it will be open
every Tuesday for about six hours each day. Read more...